1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector suitable for smoothly engaging or disengaging both male and female multipolar connector housings.
2. Description of the Related Art
Briefly explaining an example of this type of connector, referring to FIGS. 19 and 20, a male connector housing 2 made of synthetic resin of a connector 1 is covered with a slide cover 3 so that the slide cover can be slid on the male connector housing. A base 4a of a lever 4 which is turned depending upon the reciprocation of the slide cover 3 is supported on each of both sides of the upper wall of the slide cover 3 so that the base can be turned via a spindle 3a for a point of the lever where force is applied. A halfway portion 4b of the lever 4 is fitted to each guide portion (point of application) S on both sides of the male connector housing 2 and an end 4c of the lever 4 can be fitted to a rib (fitting portion) 8 of a female connector housing 7 made of synthetic resin when both the male and female connector housings 2 and 7 are engaged.
As shown in FIG. 20, the slide cover 3 is formed in the size of a rectangular cylinder for covering the male connector housing 2 and an extended portion 3b for covering each of both sides of the male connector housing 2 is protruded from each side wall. Hereby, the center on the front side of each of the upper and lower walls of the slide cover 3 is notched in the shape of a rectangle. (The notched portion in FIG. 20 is designated by reference numeral 3c.)
As shown in FIG. 19, a temporarily fitted state in which the lever 4 is tilted between a protrusion 5a of the guide portion 5 of the male connector housing 2 and a tapered surface 6a of a lever extruding portion 6 is equivalent to a state waiting for engagement of the male connector housing 2 in the slide cover 3, when the slide cover 3 inside which the male connector housing 2 is temporarily fitted is extruded inside a hood 7a of the female connector housing 7 from the above state, the end of the lever 4 comes in contact with a protrusion 8a for supporting a lever of the rib 8 of the hood 7a of the female connector housing 7 and the lever 4 begins to turn, and when the slide cover 3 is further extruded in an engaged direction, the male connector housing 2 is pulled inside the hood 7a of the female connector housing 7 by the action of the lever 4 (leverage with the spindle 3a for supporting the base 4a of the lever 4 so that the base can be turned as a point where force is applied, the protrusion 5a of the guide portion 5 of the male connector housing 2 as a point of application and the protrusion 8a of the rib 8 of the female connector housing 7 as a fulcrum) and both connector housings 2 and 7 are engaged.
However, in the above connector 1 according to the related art, since the lever 4 supported on the spindle 3a of the slide cover 3 so that the lever 4 can be turned is tilted between the protrusion 5a of the guide portion 5 of the male connector housing 2 and the tapered surface 6a of the lever extruding portion 6 and a state waiting for engagement of the male connector housing 2 within the slide cover 3 is thereby temporarily secured, the temporary fitting holding force of the male connector housing 2 within the slide cover 3 is weak, which raises a fear that, before the mutual engagement between the two connector housings 2 and 7 is completed, the male connector housing 2 can be lowered backwardly within the slide cover 3 to thereby make it impossible for the two connector housings 2 and 7 to be engaged with each other. Also, since the slide cover 3 does not include a guide portion capable of guiding the back-and-forth movement of the male connector housing 2, the male connector housing 2 can be easily lowered in an oblique manner or the like within the slide cover 3, which raises a fear that the two connector housings 2 and 7 can be incompletely engaged or cannot be engaged with each other.